sample
Elif Shafak on women writers and boundaries
At last week’s 2016 shortlist event, brilliant judge Elif Shafak gave a wonderful speech prior to announcing this year’s Baileys...
It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. This is where one can find the best food in town, the best music, the best wine. But there is something else to the place: it makes one forget, even if for just a few hours, the world outside and its immoderate sorrows.
In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart.
Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus Carica growing in the back garden of their home.
Podcast
Listen to Vick Hope speak to the six brilliant authors shortlisted for the 2022 Prize.
Listen to the podcast
Maggie Shipstead
Elif Shafak
Meg Mason
Lisa Allen-Agostini
Louise Erdrich
Ruth Ozeki
Violet Kupersmith
Kirsty Capes
Morowa Yejidé
Rachel Elliott
Maggie Shipstead
Catherine Chidgey
Lulu Allison
Meg Mason
Ruth Ozeki
Lisa Allen-Agostini
Charlotte Mendelson
Dawnie Walton
Elif Shafak
Miranda Cowley Heller
Louise Erdrich
Leone Ross
Barbara Kingsolver
Ruth Ozeki
Susanna Clarke
Maggie O'Farrell
Tayari Jones
Kamila Shamsie
Naomi Alderman
Lisa McInerney
Ali Smith
Eimear McBride
A.M. Homes
Madeline Miller
Téa Obreht
Barbara Kingsolver
Marilynne Robinson
Rose Tremain
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Lionel Shriver
Andrea Levy
Valerie Martin
Ann Patchett
Kate Grenville
Linda Grant
Suzanne Berne
Carol Shields
Anne Michaels
Helen Dunmore
At last week’s 2016 shortlist event, brilliant judge Elif Shafak gave a wonderful speech prior to announcing this year’s Baileys...
Following the announcement of this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, we caught up with 2016 judge Elif Shafak...
A very special edition of our annual live shortlist readings, hosted by Kate Mosse and Chair of Judges Mary Ann...
Tune into host Vick Hope and a line-up of incredible guests on our weekly podcast full of unmissable book recommendations.
Join the Women's Prize newsletter for a chance to win a stack of all 6 brilliant 2023 shortlisted books, and get the latest book news, author features and exciting competitions! (You can unsubscribe at any time)*
